Ways of Seeing

Artists: Harun Farocki, Forensic Architecture, Geocinema, Kyriaki Goni, Jill Magid, Clara Mosch, Jon Rafman, Natascha Sadr Haghighian

In his 1972 BBC series "Ways of Seeing", John Berger argues that the way we look at images reveals to us something about ourselves and the situation in which we live. Drawing on Walter Benjamin, he argues that the meaning of images changes as a consequence of reproducibility. Today, the human, too, constantly morphs into images and data: documented, analysed, and sorted by smart instruments and algorithmic operations. The effect of mechanical reproducibility dislocates the image as well as the act of observing itself. The exhibition Ways of Seeing seeks to explore unfolding connections between mechanisms of power, control, social responsibility, and narratives of freedom, examining their manifestation or refraction in the presence of and through the lens of observation. Out of the technical image evolves a technical imagination, no longer oriented toward the human observer. Focusing on various situations of surveillance, the exhibited works emphasize new ways of seeing that articulate unknown sites of consciousness, experience, and communication.

The third edition of the Biennale for Visual and Sonic Media. düsseldorf photo+ will take place under the heading On Reality, from May 17 to July 14, 2024. Throughout Düsseldorf, visitors explore contemporary photography and media-based art in all their multifaceted forms in exhibitions, concerts, talks, panel discussions and other events. The artists involved will reflect in a variety of ways on how media continues to significantly shape our understanding of reality today and how it has done so in the past. Computer-generated image and sound worlds are omnipresent in our world. At the Biennale, they form an integral part of our offering alongside audiovisual realities created by analogue means. In total, the Biennale presents almost 300 artists and contributors and spans over 50 exhibitions and events at venues including museums, private collections, galleries, independent exhibition spaces and universities.